The tall blond darted out of the door, dragging his large suitcase behind him, and left the now empty apartment without giving it another look. He did however, pause momentarily as he walked past the Derp Squad's apartment next door, but his attention snapped back when he heard his brother's footsteps behind him, and moved swiftly down the stairs with the banging of his suitcase echoing through the building.

Sehun sighed and followed his brother out the door, but waited for Luhan, who was locking the door behind him.

"He's too stubborn for his own good sometimes."

Luhan chuckled, "Guess it runs in the family."

"Hey~" The younger gave a small pout, which disappeared as soon as his boyfriend covered it with a soft kiss.

"Just don't worry."

He bit his lip, "It's kind of hard not to."

Kyungsoo had come round this morning to say goodbye to his neighbours before they had to catch their afternoon flight. Conveniently, Kris was still asleep at this time, avoiding any possible conversations he might hear regarding Chanyeol, who had not slept for two days. Sehun was close to tears as Kyungsoo informed them with excruciating details of what Chanyeol had been going through ever since Kris announced that they were leaving for China. But there was nothing they could do. Kris' mind was set and nobody could change it. All they could do was send their best regards to their friend, leaving Kyungsoo with a hug and a sad goodbye.

The two of them shuffled down the stairs to reunite with Kris, who stood as nonchalantly as he could by the entrance of their building, though his tapping fingers against his suitcase handle gave him away. As soon as he met Sehun's pleading eyes, the blond turned his suitcase away and made his way to the waiting taxi by the gates of the estate without another word.

"Hyung~" Sehun whined, tugging at his boyfriend's arm, "do something~! We can't leave like this. I can see Yeollie hyung's swollen crying eyes already. He'll be blind by next week!"

Luhan smiled, "I think Chanyeol's stronger than you make him out to be. And you know your brother better than I do. Once he's made his mind up, nothing will change it."

"Hyunnnnnnng~"

Luhan chuckled, and gave his boyfriend a little tap on his nose as a sign of defeat to his aegyo.

"Yah! Fan-ah!" The blond up ahead turned his head with wide blank eyes, "did you remember the tickets?"

Kris stood his wheely suitcase up on its own and rummaged through his leather bag for the tickets and his passport, assured that they were in here something. They were not. He then gently jogged back to his two friends with a vacant and confused expression.

"Do you have them?"

Luhan shook his head, "You're always in charge of tickets and passports."

"I must've left them in the apartment then," Kris mumbled, looking through his bag one last time, just to double check. He was sure that he had put them in here this morning. But then again, his mind had been wandering.

"I'll run back up and get them then," he concluded.

Luhan smiled, "we'll wait down here."

With a nod, the blond turned to jog back up the stairs to their apartment on the top floor, but was frozen by another calling of his name.

"Fan-ah, since you're going up anyway, do you mind dropping something off at Kyungsoo's apartment for me? I forgot to give it to him this morning when he came round."

Shivers ran down his spine and he could almost feel a sweat break out on his forehead as Luhan's simple request sank in. He swallowed his panic and blinked to build back his cool, "Sure, what is it?"

"Just some special eyedrops that I got for Chanyeol," Luhan smirked at Kris' failed attempt to hide his alarmed eyes.

Regaining his breath once more, Kris simply gave a nod, mind still looping in the possibility that this could be some trap. He carefully took the drops from Luhan and hesitantly paced back up three flights of stairs.

As soon as Kris was out of earshot, Sehun turned to his boyfriend and frowned, "I'm confused. I saw you put the tickets in your bag just before we left. And didn't you hear what Kyungsoo Umma told us this morning? Why send Hyunggie up there if Yeollie hyung's not going to be there?"

The elder simply gave a knowing chuckle, teasing his boyfriend by keeping the secret to himself, "I'm just trying to show him who really needs him."

***

Every step seemed to weigh a thousand ton to Kris. He didn't even know why he had agreed to this. Pride. It was his stupid pride that always got the better of him. He wanted to show Luhan that going to China wasn't just some rash decision. There was nothing that he couldn't leave behind in Korea.

Right?

Before he realised what he was doing, his long index finger was already on the doorbell of the apartment next door. The shuffling that came behind that wooden door was slowly his breathing which was brought to a stop when the door finally opened.

It wasn't him.

He didn't know whether to be relieved or sad, since he didn't even get a proper chance to say goodbye.

"Hey…" the boy gave a doubtful smile to the familiar visitor as he opened the door, "I thought you guys would be at the airport by now?"

"Yeah, we were just leaving," Kris' voice was so low that even he could hardly hear himself, "I just came to give...erm...Chanyeol this…"

"Oh yeah, I forgot to ask Luhan hyung when I came round this morning, " Kyungsoo took the drops and bowed his head in gratitude, "Tell him thanks from me. Well, and Chanyeol."

The words came tumbling before he could stop himself, "Where's Chanyeol…?"

Kyungsoo blinked his eyes with a sad frown, unsure of whether to reply or not, before finally mumbling, "Yeollie's at the optician's with Baekhyun."

"Huh?" Kris had failed to keep his emotions in this time, curiosity and worry mixing in his head.

"I made them go this morning since it's only round the corner from the estate. It's just that Yeollie's eyes have been really dry these couple of days with no sleep and all the cr--" Kyungsoo swallowed the rest of that word and continued clumsily, "He's recovering from the surgery a little slower than expected, but he'll be okay."

Kris frowned deeply, his tone risen to a whole new level, "What surgery? What's wrong with his eyes?"

The wide-eyed boy blinked again, eyeing Kris with an expression that said 'don't-you-already-know-the-answer'?

"Yeollie got laser eye surgery about a week ago, couple of days before Valentine's Day I think. I thought he'd have told you…?" Kyungsoo tilted his head slightly in confusion, "After all, you're the reason---"

Kris didn't believe that he had ever ran that fast in his entire life. He sprinted down the stairs, ran past his friends without an explanation, knocking over his suitcase in the process, and headed straight for the small optician's a few streets from where the estate was.

He always thought of himself as an intelligent man, which is why he always made decisions for other people like his brother Sehun, because he always assumed that he knew best, for himself, for everyone. He never doubted himself, not once, about his any of his actions, because he always believed that his decisions were for the best consequences. It wasn't until this very moment, the first time that his tears had ever fallen out of his dark eyes, did he realise that what he had wasn't intelligence, but arrogance. He has managed to hurt everyone that he ever cared about. He didn't realise, until now, that the one person who understood him more than anybody else on this earth, Chanyeol, must've hidden so many scars and bruises just so Kris could keep his pride.

Kris ran, ignoring everything and everyone around him, tears flowing angrily down his cheeks. He hadn't cried since the night his parents died and had forgotten how painful a heartbreak could get. He could hear his breathing turn into a heavy pant as he began to sob.

It wasn't the contact lenses that made Chanyeol's eyes swollen and red. It wasn't the mushy couples making out in the dark that Chanyeol didn't want to see in the cinemas on Valentine's Day. It wasn't the judging eyes that he was afraid of when he wore his sunglasses in the afternoon.

Laser-eye surgery, dammit!

Kris didn't want to even begin to think how uncomfortable it must've been for Chanyeol to be dragged around in the daylight that day when he wanted to take some photographs of their time together.

The flashlight. .

He didn't want to think about how painful it must've been when they had that movie night last week, where they watched back-to-back movies in the dark livingroom.

I even complained when he 'fell asleep'.

Chanyeol was always compromising, following his orders diligently, accommodating to his bad tempers and protecting him in ways beyond Kris' imagination. Chanyeol loved him, and had given every single piece of his heart to him. But when he finally asked for something for the very first time, it took Kris less than a heartbeat to deny him something as simple as staying with him.

At this moment in time, Kris wanted nothing more but to hold Chanyeol in his arms once more and tell him he was sorry. He was sorry for being such an to someone as beautiful and wonderful as he was, for not treasuring his heart when he had the chance, for not holding his hands and telling him how much he really loved him every single moment they were together.

When he finally reached his destination, tears were still drowning his dark pupils but it didn't take him a long time to find what he was looking for. Just like in the movies, the most beautiful boy stood up from the sofa in the waiting area and stared right back at him on the other side of the glass.

Then he smiled, and Kris's world stopped.

He stopped breathing, because his lungs no longer needed any of the late spring air. His heart stopped beating, because the pumping muscle no longer kept him alive. His eyes may as well be blind, because the only thing that he'll ever want to see is this smile, and it was already carved into his brain.

There wasn't a single thing that he needed from this world.

All he'll ever need was right here.

***

Tao was pacing back and forth in front of a cinema and his face grew redder as his patience grew thinner with every passing minute.

When Baekhyun finally arrived, over half an hour late, Tao puffed his cheeks and stormed in the other direction, ignoring his boyfriend's yelling.

"I'm so sorry, panda boy," Baekhyun quickly grabbed the angry boy by his hand and yanked him towards him, then skilfully trapped Tao with his arms locked around his waist. Tao wasn't going to let Baekhyun get away this easily and used every inch of his strength to struggle out of his hold. When Baekhyun's arms only tightened around his waist, the younger started yelling.

"Get off me!"

Despite Tao's fierce attacks, Baekhyun suddenly chuckled and gave a simple reply, "Okay!"

Tao's eyes popped out in absolute shock when his boyfriend obediently released him as he struggled, almost causing him to tumble to the ground. He turned around to meet Baekhyun's smiling eyes and his mouth hung open, unsure of what to say.